Virgil sits on his bed and twirls the white crystal in his palm.
He cannot determine what it is.
He tries his spiritual power, mana, and even physical energy to identify the white crystal, but nothing works.
It must be valuable—after he returned to the ship, the city was placed under curfew because a thief had stolen a precious object from the Church of Balor.
The Dark Fae have three gods: Morrise, the god of forest and life; Trufant, the god of warriors and conquest; and Balor, the god of darkness and curses.
He decides to wait for the thief to come to him.
He doesn't believe the thief will simply ignore him while he holds this special object.
He sighs and closes his eyes to meditate.
He focuses on refining his spirit while the simulation panel completes the Blood Meditation Technique, fourth stage.
Should I use the simulation again? he wonders.
I still have three opportunities left, but there's no major improvement on my side to make the simulation worth it.
Let's wait until I transform the Fire Yang power.
Virgil frowns when he hears noises outside the ship.
There is no night and day in the Underdark, but on the surface, it is night, only a couple of hours before sunrise.
At this time, Underdark cities are usually quiet, but now the noise outside is like the busiest time of the day.
Boom.
Virgil's heart almost jumps out of his chest from the sudden explosion.
He quickly jumps out of bed, opens the door, and finds all his team members in their sleeping attire gathered outside their rooms.
They look at each other with the same question in their eyes.
What happened?
A crew member rushes down from the deck.
"Everybody, quickly get out, pirates are coming."
Mira shouts, "What?"
Virgil rushes back into his room, grabs his space bag, and runs to the deck.
From the western side, hundreds of ships with different pirate flags sail toward the city.
Virgil ducks when a massive fireball shoots from one pirate ship, passing over their vessel to land in the city behind them.
Vincent shouts, "We cannot stay here, let's go into the city."
Virgil nods and follows behind Cynthia, jumping from the ship to the dock.
Pushing through the screaming crowd, they enter the city, but he and Cynthia become separated from the rest.
From the corner of his eye, Virgil sees a giant fireball streak through the air and crash into a building a few meters ahead, exploding with a deafening boom.
He covers his face from the blast of heat and the cloud of dust that spreads through the street.
"We cannot stay in the city. We have to leave."
Virgil pulls a compass from his space.
The needle spins before settling—not toward north, but toward Vincent and the others.
Everyone carries a compass that points toward where a large number of their group gathers.
They follow the needle until they reunite with Vincent and the rest, then head together toward the eastern gate.
But outside the gate is a long line of people trying to flee the city.
They scan the area, searching for any way to escape.
Virgil's gaze shifts to the wall.
"Let's climb the wall and jump."
Climbing is easy, but once they reach the top and look down, they hesitate.
Even for professionals, jumping from this height would break bones—and at the base of the wall, spikes jut from the ground.
From inside the city below, they hear a voice.
A young dark fae woman with silver hair, dressed in leather armour and pants, two short swords sheathed across her back, waves her hand.
"Do you want to go out of the city?"
Vincent shouts back over the roar of another explosion. "Who are you?"
The dark fae smirks. "Does it matter? You guys want to leave or not?"
The group exchanges glances, then looks toward the city blazing with fire.
Vincent says, "Ok, we will go, but what's your name?"
While they come down the wall, they hear the dark fae say, "I go by Swan."
Meeting her, Vincent asks, "Why do you want us to go with you? I don't think we know each other."
—Boom—another explosion.
Frustration flashes across Swan's face. "We can discuss this later. Now run."
Virgil exchanges a glance with the others, then they break into a run, following Swan.
They sidestep hysterical people running in the streets, pass others sitting and crying, leap over rubble, weave through collapsed buildings, and slip into alleys until they reach a sewer cover.
Lifting it, they climb down into the darkness.
Virgil wrinkles his nose and waves a hand in front of his face.
The curse of being a professional—his heightened senses make the stench too vivid. He can even identify objects through their smell.
He closes his eyes, dulling his sense of smell until the odour fades.
A sigh escapes him, followed by others—they've done the same.
Cynthia says, "Does the sewer lead outside the city?"
Swan starts walking, and they follow. "It does, but not in the direction we want to go."
Clide says, "The river."
Mira says, "Now, can you tell us why you wanted us to come with you?"
Swan says, "It'll be better if I show you."
She quickens her pace.
Suddenly, Cynthia screams and jumps, wrapping her arms around Virgil.
He is surprised but doesn't dislike the feeling.
The group halts, turning to see Cynthia clinging to him.
In the eyes of the three boys, flames burn.
Marcus says, "What happened?"
Cynthia points across the sewer's paved path.
A rat the size of a dog is chewing on something, its beady eyes curiously watching them.
"Swan, are you going to use the secret tunnel behind the temple to escape?"
Cynthia jumps again, pressing closer to Virgil, so tightly that he feels the soft, squishy sensation against his arm.
He notices it more because they aren't wearing armour—they had fled straight from sleep or meditation.
Without armour, he had felt strangely exposed before, but now he thanked his luck.
Swan says, "Bran, are you not escaping?"
Bran sneers. "Who would come down into the sewer to search? I'm telling you, you should stay here with me. Nobody will check."
Swan says, "They will. You don't know why the Pirate King Seymour attacked the town."
Bran says, "For what?"
Realisation dawns on his face. "Oh! The finger bone of Saint Frayoun."
Bran drops to all fours and runs, disappearing from sight.
Swan says, "Let's go."
They start walking again.
Mira asks, "Is the finger bone of Saint Frayoun the one that was stolen yesterday?"
Swan says, "Yes."
Cynthia says, "You guys don't know—when Virgil and I were roaming the street, the thief collided with him."
Mira says, "Really?"
Cynthia says, "We were going to roam more, but because of the thief, we had to return early."
Mira says, "You still did a little. I was going to buy some new clothes today, but now I can't."
Cynthia says, "I did. You can take some of mine—our figures are the same."
Then she pauses, realisation striking her. "Swan's figure looks similar to the thief's, doesn't it, Virgil?"
Virgil shrugs. "I don't know."
Swan, walking ahead, says, "Stop your chit-chat. We've reached our destination."
They turn left and walk a few meters.
They stop before a hole in the wall beside them—a tunnel leading down, shrouded in darkness.
Virgil follows the group down the tunnel, and they emerge into a breathtaking cavern.
Bright crystal stones adorn the ceiling, casting shimmering light across the space.
On the far side, a ruined temple faces them.
A paved path leads from where they stand to the temple, flanked on either side by large ponds where water lilies and lotuses float gently.
Inside, it is pin-drop silent—no wind, no chirping insects—perhaps because of the temple's presence.
In silence, they walk toward it and climb the stairs to step inside.
Fascinated by the murals on the walls, they pause, gazing in confusion.
Cynthia asks, "What race is this?"
Swan says, "Do not know?"
Virgil studies the murals too, baffled—the figures look like robots.
Swan leads them into the main chamber of the temple.
A large stone ball stands on a raised platform.
They feel an odd discomfort at the sight of a sphere being worshipped like a god, but say nothing—perhaps it truly is one.
Vincent says, "I don't see any way ahead from here."
Swan waves them over. "Follow me."
They walk past the statue and find a large hole in the wall behind it.
Swan halts and looks at them. "First, all of you wear your armour."
Mira says, "Do we have to fight inside?"
Swan says, "If there were no fighting, why would I call you? I could escape the city alone."
Virgil takes his armour out of his space bag and starts putting it on.
The others follow suit before trailing after Swan into the hole.
At the end, they find a large iron door and push it open, stepping inside.